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vels on the themes of class struggle under the guidance of MaoZedong. According to the Wikipedia, it is known that in 1977 when the CulturalRevolution nearly ended, Mo joined the People's Liberation Army and started writingwhen he served as a soldier. In 1984，his first novel, A Transparent Radish waspublished and in 1986 Red Sorghum was released, bringing him to the public as anationally renowned writer. His hometown, Gaomi County, serves as the setting foralmost all his novels and the inspiration for his writing usually comes from the storieshe once heard or the daily experiences. With respect to the eye-catching title，Mo Yanstated in 1995 that the “creative urge for the title was derived from his experience ofseeing an ancient stone sculpture of a female figure with protruding breasts andI buttocks" (Rong，2004, p. 159). In the preface of the book，Mo claims that Big Breastsand Wide Hips is dedicated not only to his own mother but also to all the mothers in theworld. (Mo，2012) Therefore，Shangguan Lu, the mother in Big Breasts and Wide Hips，can be considered to be a fictional figure of Mo's own mother and this novel is an ode tomothers' greatness, although the title is literally and superficially indecent. With itsseemingly erotic title, Big Breasts and Wide Hips, in the eyes of some readers, wouldhave triggered controversial discussion if it had appeared in the bookstore. However,when it was published in a prominent literary magazine, Dajia, it was granted the prizeof the first Dajia Prize. Bai Ye，the president of the Association of Chinese产 Contemporary Literature, is one of the earliest readers of this novel and once rectifiedthe misunderstandings people inclined to have with the novel, pointing out that BigBreasts and Wide Hips was a novel appealing to scholars and laymen alike. Itessentially refers to the maternal love to each child, equal and unselfish, bringingjoyous warmth to readers.i Mother in this magnificent novel is Shangguan Lu, whowas bom with the name Xuan'er in 1900. Her father was killed by German soldiersduring the Boxer Rebellion and her mother hung herself to preserve her chastity. Shealmost became an orphan, but under the care of the aunt and uncle, she lived a peacefuland happy life. When she came of age, she married Shangguan Shouxi，an aimlessblacksmith who was subservient to his mother and impotent in the conjugal bed. Inorder to produce children, she must stray. After giving birth to seven daughters, shefinally has boy and girl twins; a blind daughter named Yunv and a son named Jintongwho，most of the time, is the narrator of the novel. Jintong is born on the eve of theSino-Japanese War and Shangguan Lv takes her children through a series of disastrousperiods with her strong will and sheer perseverance, from the Sino-Japanese War tonational reforms after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Jintong is aselfish and spoiled boy，who is obsessed with female breasts. In his eyes, breasts and themilk they hold are the only worthwhile things. As a result, in the post-Mao years (Maodied in 1976), when weaned of the breast, Jintong begins to deteriorate. So comparedwith the girls and women full of female strength surrounding him，he represents the^ masculine fragility. The deterioration of Jintong is seen by Moyan as a regression of thehuman species and it is the strength of character of (most, but not all) the women thatlends hope to the author's gloomy vision (Mo，2004(Goldblatt，trans.), p.ix).Mo Yan was a